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As a person who is serious about the subject, how often do you think about mathematics? I assume most of you are graduate students or PhD students and would consider yourselves mathematicians. In other words, you are serious about your subject. Is math something that's always on your mind?

I'm currently an undergraduate and I am not sure if I have what it takes to devote myself to the subject and go to gradate school for math and beyond. I often find myself thinking about religion and history. These things together take up most of my thinking. However, if I were to become serious about math I could see myself devoting more time to that and less time to my other interests.

I understand this question is subjective and will get closed, but I hope before that happens I can get a few replies. I really can't think of a more perfect place to ask this question.

Nażysław Zbyłutowicz
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    If I were to spend more time devoting myself to medicine, I could become a doctor....but I won't so I shan't. Jokes aside, if you don't spend your time doing it and don't feel a passion for it, why do it? If you find yourself thinking more about religion and history, why not focus on those fields and find a career combining these of interest to you? You can always learn/read Mathematics as a hobby. I love programming but didn't become a computer scientist but still find time to program in my spare time and my life is all the richer for it. – mathematics2x2life Apr 03 '17 at 01:21
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    There is probably a very broad range. All from those who spend most waking moments obsessing about specific mathematical problems (pure math phds probably risk falling in that category) to high school students who just hop in to get help with a single homework question. Also many subjects you can study at msc or phd level are applied sciences which involve math and students focusing on those subjects are also on here to strengthen their math skills to get get a deeper understanding of the tools used in their field (or help develop new ones). So the answer is probably that it varies a lot. – mathreadler Apr 03 '17 at 01:26
  • I'm also interested in this question. Something I always found lacking in courses. The discussion about how people come to think of the problems in the first place. – mavavilj Nov 11 '21 at 14:55

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